This invention relates to a flywheel powered bicycle with an articulated rider, of which the flywheel may be energized with an external charger, and of which the articulated rider appears to be operating the bicycle when the bicycle is in motion.
Flywheels and inertia wheels utilized in toy vehicles are well known. For example: U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,011 to Cook discloses a flywheel toy motorcycle that includes the flywheel about the front end of the frame. The motorcycle also includes a cord that when pulled energizes the flywheel, which will rotate independently of the rear wheel. The motorcycle further includes a clutch that places the flywheel in engagement with a gear train that rotatably attaches to the rear wheel, such that when the flywheel is rotating and the clutch is moved to such a position, the flywheel engages the gear train and rotates the rear wheel.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,682 to Iede discloses a flywheel-powered toy motorcycle, which mounts the flywheel within the front portion of the frame. The flywheel is meshed through a series of gears to an end gear rotatably attached to the rear wheel and an external launcher may be meshed with the end gear to energize the flywheel.
Flywheel-powered toy vehicles, which include two, three or four wheeled vehicles, are well known and generally include a gear train that is designed to charge the flywheel to a RPM significantly faster than the vehicle initially, such that when the vehicle is released the inertia of the flywheel will propel the vehicle quickly and for a significant distance. Normally the flywheel and gear train are housed within the chassis of the vehicle, thereby preventing damage to an exposed flywheel or injury to the user. Since the flywheel and gear train are placed in a housing, the manufacturer will design or mold a housing that represents a vehicle or toy that the user can visually relate to, for instance, a car or motorcycle. In such toys, the manufacturer can easily house the flywheel and gear train in the chassis of the car or in the center of the motorcycle frame.
A bicycle, however, has an open frame that does not provide any enclosure that may house the flywheel. In order to accommodate the flywheel and gear train, the bicycle must position or place the same about one of the wheels; otherwise the appearance of the open frame of the vehicle would be lost. The ability to place the flywheel and gear train about the front wheel is well known, U.S. Pat. No. 2,829,467 to Pagano discloses a toy motorcycle that includes a flywheel rigidly secured on a shaft, and housed within a hollow front wheel, which is mounted on the shaft for independent rotation relative to the shaft and the flywheel. A cord wrapped around the end of the shaft and rapidly pulled off, spins the flywheel within the front wheel. When the motorcycle is placed on a flat surface, friction between the wheel hub and the front axle causes the wheel to propel the motorcycle. Since the flywheel may rotate faster than the front wheel, the flywheel also acts as a gyro for stabilization.
In toys powered by a flywheel, especially two wheel toy vehicles, the flywheel is used to balance the two-wheeled vehicle. While the vehicle is in motion, any number of things can upset the vehicle""s stability causing the same to lean and fall to one side, for example, while moving over a flat surface, any imperfections in the surface could upset the balance and stability. In order to compensate for this the vehicle can be provided with caster steering. However, when the flywheel is enclosed within the front wheel, caster steering is removed in order to accommodate for the flywheel and gear train. As such it would therefore be desirable to place the flywheel in the rear wheel.
While full size bicycles have been provided in the past with a flywheel in the rear wheel of the bicycle, for instance U.S. Pat. No. 639,567, the person operating the bicycle powers the flywheel by pedaling the bicycle. More importantly, the person provides the needed stability and balance to keep the full size bicycle upright. In U.S. Pat. No. 639,567 the flywheel is only used to assist the power provided by the operator to help coast the bicycle and cannot aid in balancing or stabilizing the bicycle upright.
Generally, when a flywheel spins it creates a gyro effect on the bicycle itself, acting thereon to balance the bicycle. This effect is proportional to the difference in weight between the flywheel and the bicycle, such that when the weight of the flywheel is larger than the weight of the bicycle, the gyro effect will be greater. To the same extent, a real bicycle would include the weight of the person and bicycle, which would significantly outweigh the flywheel, unless the flywheel was extremely large or heavy, which is impractical. In toys the material used to manufacture the bicycle and rider, such as foam or plastics, can have a total weight much lighter than the weight of the flywheel and still visually appear proportional to each other. As such, a toy bicycle can have a small flywheel that produces a gyro effect on a light weight bicycle that aids in the stability and balance of the bicycle.
In accordance with the present invention there is disclosed a toy bicycle that includes a rear wheel assembly rotatably connected to the frame of the toy bicycle. The rear wheel assembly has a two-piece rear wheel that encloses a flywheel and a means of interconnecting the flywheel to the rear wheel housing such that the flywheel may rotate independently about the same axis as the rear wheel. Moreover, the interconnecting means provides the ability to energize the flywheel in response to an external rotational force applied to the rear wheel and when the external rotational force is removed the interconnecting means will continue to rotate the rear wheel in response to the inertia of the energized flywheel. The toy bicycle further includes a rear pulley simulating a sprocket (referred to herein as a xe2x80x9crear sprocketxe2x80x9d) that is secured to the rear wheel such that when the rear wheel rotates, the rear sprocket also rotates. The rear sprocket is further attached to a pedal/crank/sprocket assembly that is horizontally and rotatably mounted to the frame, such that the rotation of the rear sprocket further rotates the pedal/crank/sprocket assembly. An articulated rider, mounted to the seat of the bicycle, has hands attached to the handlebars and has feet attached to pedals defined by the pedal/crank/sprocket assembly. When the pedal/crank/sprocket assembly rotates, the articulated rider having joints positioned in the legs appears to pedal the pedal/crank/sprocket assembly and as such the articulated rider appears to be operating the bicycle.
In one embodiment, the bicycle further includes the means to energize the flywheel through an external charger. The external charger is motorized such that the user can hold on to the bicycle and energize the flywheel effortlessly. After the flywheel is energized, the user can easily remove the external charger, place the bicycle on a surface and watch it drive away. In yet another embodiment the flywheel may be energized in an external launcher that includes a mechanical charger. The user places the bicycle in the launcher and begins to mechanically charge the flywheel by rotating the rear wheel. When flywheel is sufficiently energized, the user stops mechanically rotating the rear wheel. However, the energized flywheel will continue to rotate the rear wheel such that the bicycle automatically propels itself out of the launcher.
Numerous other advantages and features of the invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims, and from the accompanying drawings.